Halloween
by ALMH
Summary: Part of the Spooks fic for a year challenge I've set myself, where I have to write a fic about Spooks every week. Feel free to join in and do this as well! Set during S4, HR pairing. Week 1 of the challenge, only 51 more to go!


He rubbed his head as he sat trying to read the latest document. It was only half four, and he was exhausted, had a splitting headache, and a stack of paperwork to get through. It wasn't helping that Adam, Zaf and Jo were loudly celebrating Halloween with music and general conversation. Obviously they weren't getting through a lot of work. Neither was he with all the noise. There was a moment where the noise increased, then it returned to the original levels as Ruth opened the door to his office, then closed it behind her.

"I've got some files for you to sign," she told him quietly. She paused, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," he took the files from her, opening the first file. She remained in his office. "Alright, I have a headache, that's all," he told her. "Nothing major. Just the bloody aspirin isn't working."

"And the noise from the others isn't helping?" she guessed.

"Exactly," he sighed.

She fidgeted nervously. "You know it's quite quiet at the moment, I mean, not on the Grid but terrorism wise. It wouldn't matter if you left early for once."

"Are you telling me to go home early?" he asked, amused.

"Well no, I mean yes, I -"

"I'm just teasing you," he replied. "I may do that."

The door opened again, this time admitting Adam into the room, and Ruth took it as her cue to leave.

-=-

Rather surprisingly, he took her advice. Ruth had looked up part way through a phone call to see him leaving the Grid. She didn't know if anyone else noticed him leaving over the noise. She returned her concentration to the phone call, having to resort to rescheduling the conversation to a later time (a time when, hopefully, Zaf, Jo and Adam would have gone home).

"Ruth?" Jo asked. Ruth looked up from her work. "Have you seen Harry?"

"I think he went home early, I don't think he had a meeting," she answered.

"Ok... do you want to come trick or treating with us?"

"No thanks," she answered simply. She had no wish to go pester innocent people for sweets. Jo looked slightly downcast, but left with the remainder of the Grid only fifteen minutes later.

"Peace at last," Ruth thought as they left, and took another file to work through.

-=-

He poured himself a large glass of gin and sat in front of the television, watching a film, with his dog at his side. A perfect, relaxing evening. He hadn't had one of these evenings since... well, he rarely had one of these evenings. Just as he got into the film, the doorbell went. He pressed pause, and went up to answer the door, annoyed by the interruption. He opened the door and looked around.

"Trick or treat?" an electronic voice said. He looked down, and saw a large pumpkin, complete with carved face, speech facilities, and wheels. He smiled, and pretended not to notice Colin and Malcolm crouched by his front wall, a remote control in Colin's hands.

"Guessing it's going to have to be trick then, as I don't have any treats." He went to shut the door when something hard but gunky hit his face. He stopped, and gently touched some of the gunk, still slightly in shock. He heard a faint whirring and saw the pumpkin whizzing down the drive, its owners already gone. Swearing under his breath, he shut the door behind him, and proceeded to his bathroom, trying in vain to remove the gunk. The place where it had hit his face was feeling sore, and a pale purple tinge was already starting to appear.

The doorbell rang again. He walked over to the door, and was not surprised to see two people dressed in full Halloween costumes.

"Trick or treat Uncle Harry?" Wes asked cheerfully.

"I'm sorry Wes, but I don't have any sweets." Being the sweet boy Harry had grown to love, he didn't expect Wes to bring out a water pistol from behind his back and squirt him in the eye. But he did anyway.

He managed not to launch into an angry tirade, and instead fumed internally as he heard Adam amusedly taking Wes away. He once again returned indoors, now getting really irritated. So when the doorbell rang again, he didn't really know why he answered it. Probably in case it was something important, although important packages rarely arrived at that time. But just in case, he opened the door again.

"Trick or treat?" Jo asked cheerily. Harry just rolled his eyes, and turned away. That was when he noticed Zaf, standing just out of sight of the doorway, but perfect position to launch the contents of the bucket that he held in his hands right at Harry. He barely had time to yell at Zaf when he found himself covered in something sticky. He looked down, and discovered that he now was covered in tomato sauce, complete with some mashed tomatoes. Furiously he yelled at Zaf and Jo, then angrily slamming the door. He stomped furiously up the stairs, leaving a tomato trail, and quickly changed and showered. The doorbell rang again. He ignored it, instead creeping downstairs as quietly as he could in his clean clothes, avoiding the pieces of tomato that had fallen on the floor. Again the doorbell rang, and he continued to pay it no attention. When it rang a third time, he walked angrily to the door and quickly pulled it open.

"If you're another bloody person trying to do trick or treating on me then -" His voice trailed as he noticed that the person on his doorstep was not wearing a Halloween outfit. It was Ruth, looking slightly stunned from being shouted at. "Oh, I'm sorry Ruth. I didn't know -"

"It doesn't matter." She frowned for a moment. "What's happened to your head?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, you've got a bruise on your forehead, and a bloodshot eye. And why's there what looks like red mush on your doorstep?" He looked down, and saw more evidence of the evening's events.

"Halloween," he answered gravely. "I'm banning it next year, if I haven't fired everyone."

"Everyone?"

"Not you, obviously. Zaf, Jo, Adam, Wes, Malcolm and Colin though. This is ridiculous, an American tradition, they probably don't even know why we celebrate it. I don't even know why we do!"

She smiled as he ranted, which calmed him down. He never could really be angry when she was there. "You're firing Wes?" He smiled back at her, ready to make a retort back.

Suddenly a phone rang, and Ruth jumped.

"You left your phone at work," she explained, handing it back to him. Their hands touched for a fraction longer than necessary. Their eyes met, but both looked away suddenly, Harry to his ringing phone, Ruth to a suspicious piece of mush that was on the floor.

"Juliet," he answered. "What is it? - No, I'm bloody not going to go to the stupid Halloween ball tonight. - I don't care who else is!" he hung up furiously, and looked at the list of missed calls. "All Juliet! To ask if I'm going to that Halloween ball. Stupid woman... You going?"

"Erm, no. No, I wasn't. I was going to just stay at work, catch up on some work in peace and quiet, but then people kept coming in to try and get me to come -"

"So you decided to leave? Good option. Have you... have you got any plans for this evening?"

"No, not really. Feed my cat. That's about all I've got planned. Have you? Got anything planned, I mean."

"No, not really either. I was watching a film, but then..." he gestured to the mess on the ground.

"I dread to think what they've done to my house." There was an awkward pause.

"Do you want to have dinner?" She looked up at his face.

"Dinner?"

"Yes. Now. If you would like. Dinner, with a film and hopefully good conversation." She smiled.

"Ok."

"Yes?"

"Yes." He smiled back, and let her through the door. And if the smiles on their faces the next day were anything to go by, it certainly wouldn't be the last time.


End file.
